Google Maps for Mobile 5 unveiled

by12/8/2010 11:04:00 AM

12/8/2010 11:04:00 AM

Google has been showing off its future in the last few days, not least with the Google Nexus S smartphone. Indeed, that phone is likely to be the first recipient of Google Maps for Mobile 5. But it isn't the only phone that will get it.

This is a 3D-style take on Google Maps, vectors instead of flat images, according to Engadget, with buildings that render effortlessly in front of your very eyes. 100 cities in total, but hopefully that will be expanded over time. It can't be an easy job working out the shape of a building, let alone millions of the things.

You can also use two fingers to tilt and rotate around the map (in addition to moving and pinch-to-zoom) and with offline caching, Maps will keep on file the locations that you go to (and search) most often. But once you leave that route, you'll need that connection once more. If you are worried about storage, Google claims the storage for the vectors is much smaller than the current images, so it shouldn't impact too badly.

It should be available in the 'coming days', although that might be US only initially. It's not clear. Also, you'll need a fairly recent Android phone, the likes of the Galaxy S, Droid, Droid X, Droid 2, Droid Incredible, Evo, Nexus S and the G2.